When I shop at REI, I buy good things. Useful, important things. Before traveling to Peru a few years ago, I bought a pair of Columbia brand zip-off pants that have been LIFE SAVERS in multiple situations. I wear them at home and abroad, in situations including mountainsides, hiking trails and temple ruins. I have worn them in front of friends, boyfriends and wild monkeys. Sometimes they are just the right thing.
Before heading to Singapore, I stopped by my local REI (the flagship store in South Lake Union in Seattle) to pick up a few odds and ends. I needed a new Nalgene bottle, some packing cubes and a mini-messenger bag for toting guidebooks and water bottles through temples and city tours. I found everything I was looking for (granted, I had to get a purple water bottle, instead of hot pink like I wanted), used a gift card to help pay for it and went home happy. While touring around SE Asia, I've LOVED the bag I bought. It's a Keen bag, perfect size and shape: easily slings across the shoulder, holds a LOT of stuff without being too huge and has lots of internal compartments for organizing things. The inside liner is water/spill resistant and the outside fabric is water-resistant. This comes in handy when you end up on an accidental hike through Cambodia and get caught in the rain.
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| The bag and me in Malaysia |
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| The bag and me in Bangkok |
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| The bag LOVED temples in Cambodia. |
But I hate going into the store.
I roll up into the REI wearing whatever I wore to the office that day - some variation on polo shirt with a khaki skirt and pearl earrings - or what I wore to walk Greenlake - Nike workout pants and a sorority t-shirt and pearl earrings - and I get dirty looks. All the granola-eating, bicycle-riding, mountain climbing Pacific Northwest nuts look at me like I dont belong in the REI cuz I'm wearing Sperrys and not flannel. The sales staff don't help me, the other shoppers get in my way and the whole experience just kinda sucks. By the time I leave the store, I am generally stressed out and upset and sweaty. It's just not that fun. I feel judged and want to walk around the store yelling, "I'm outdoorsy! I'm legit! I hike in South America AND Asia AND Snohomish County."
But they sell good stuff. That's quality, useful stuff.
For Christmas, my mom gave me an awesome jacket that she bought at REI in her town. But when I unwrapped the gift, we realized it still had the security tag on it, so we headed back to the store to get the tag removed. I was pleasantly surprised at how different my mom's REI was from the one in Seattle. The sales staff were super helpful, the customers chatted with each other, I got the security tag removed from my jacket and I ended up spending another $150 on some awesome stuff that was on sale. Thus, restoring my love of REI.
Maybe it's the PNW-ers who bug me (rain that makes people cranky)...or maybe Southerners are just nicer in general.....probably because of the access to Duke's Mayonnaise and Bojangle's fried chicken.
Maybe next time I go into the Seattle store, I'll just roll in wearing my "I survived Dead Woman's Pass" t-shirt and smear some mud on my zip-off pants to try to fit in. (I will, of course, refrain from telling them about the time I went camping and got there with my rain fly and tent stakes, but no tent.....)
